With the increasing popularity of social networking, traditional forms of joining, sharing interests and hobbies, and making appointments, e.g., by joining social clubs, attending social events, meeting friends through other friends, and so forth, are replaced by social activities via the Internet, in particular, by some sort of social forum for networking and meeting new people. It can even be said that for many people, the Internet nowadays represents the principal way in which the people meet new friends and remain in touch with existing friends, because the Internet enables establishing and maintaining interactions between vast numbers of individuals.
For this purpose, various social networking websites have been developed in recent years. Social networking websites can provide organizational tools and forums for allowing these individuals to interact with one another via the social networking website. Many users prefer to limit communications to specific groups of other users or friends sharing the same or similar interests and activities.
Social network websites also display content to the users in a manner similar to standard portals in the Internet, the content covering potential interests of the users of the social network. Typical websites display their information (content) based on terms the user does not define himself, such as the latest news (based on time), advertisements (based on the interest of advertising companies), or content that is placed on that page by the decision of the hosts.
To run a successful community, the site needs to present all available content in a format that satisfies every user, e.g., the content presented is suited for the user and is very relevant to what the user is looking for in the context the user is in. It can even be said that the success of a social network will depend on the relevance of the content displayed to the respective user. Therefore, there exists a need to selectively display content to the respective user of a social network website in accordance with the preferences and/or interests of the respective user.
According to the prior art, methods for analyzing and categorizing data streams (content) are known.
US 2010/0088322 A1 discloses a method for identifying so-called “hot topics.” Whether a topic is hot may be determined based on a change in a volume of search queries related to the topic. For example, if an increase in search query volume is above a particular threshold, the topic related to the search query may be deemed a hot topic.
US 2009/0171869 A1 discloses that one or more future hot terms may be predicted according to a classification process.
US 2007/0016609 A1 relates to tools that can analyze content to determine its traits, classify the content based on its traits, and present the content in a user interface tailored to the classification. The tools can also organize content items into groups based on a common trait and enable a user to select content items through their group. Responsive to the user's selection of a group, the tools can present content, render enclosures, and alter traits of the content items in the group.
US 2009/0319914 A1 discloses a method for determining a relationship between participants in an online community based on various facts. The nature of the relationship is represented in a user interface (UI) by a visual element that shows the extent or depth of the relationship. Facets of the relationship may be used to facilitate interaction between participants (e.g., if two participants both like a particular band, then information relevant to the band may be shown as part of the UI when the participants interact with each other). The nature of the relationship may be determined or characterized based on commonality of activities, commonality of interests, the extent to which the participants have interacted with each other in the past, or other facts.